Monday, December 6
Show mercy—Know God
Scripture: Hosea 6-7, Romans 12
Hosea 6:6 For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
Romans 12:1–2 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Observation
It is so easy to reduce our faith to religion—a set of practices that can done while our hearts are still far from God.
In Hosea 6:6, the Lord says (as He does often elsewhere) that He desires honest relationship and life change over religious liturgy. His people were offering animal sacrifices without knowing Him personally. They were asking God for mercy without living with mercy towards others.
This verse was one of Jesus’ favorites. He quotes it twice in Matthew’s gospel:
Matthew 9:13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
This follows the calling of Matthew, a tax collector, and the religious leaders’ offense at Jesus hanging out with such riffraff.
Matthew 12:7 If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.
This follows the religious leaders’ offense at Jesus’ disciples for picking and eating grain on the Sabbath.
These two situations illustrate the two sides of Hosea 6:6. In the first, the religious leaders lacked mercy for others, specifically for Matthew and his sinful friends. In the second, the religious leaders were more concerned with religious rules than the people they were made to benefit. This is what happens when faith devolves into religion, so both times, Jesus quotes this passage and encourages the religious leaders to learn what it means.
I don’t have time to develop this, but I loved that we read Romans 12:1-2 on the same day as Hosea 6:6. The sacrifice that God wants is us—fully surrendered and transformed by Him. That’s worth thinking about!
Application
Today, I want to know the Lord personally and show mercy to others. The two go hand in hand. Show mercy—you know God. No mercy—no knowing God.
One of my daily prayers—over and over—is “Lord Jesus, have mercy on me (or on others).” It’s one of the most common prayers in the New Testament prayed by the sick, the sinful and the desperate. That’s me. I know I need His mercy. And knowing that and being the recipient of that mercy makes me much more likely to give it to others. When I forget my need, it’s easy to become proud and judgmental.
Jesus’ story in Luke 18:9-14 about the Pharisee and the tax collector praying is worth reading and remembering.
Prayer: “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” And help me to give that mercy to each person I meet!